Stephen A. Smith’s dream X-Men draft gets roasted by fans for one glaring omission

Christopher Baggett
Stephen A Smith and X-Men 97 key art

Stephen A. Smith made his picks for a dream team of X-Men, but fans are roasting him after he left out Jean Grey.

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith is a prolific voice in the world of sports, but he’s not afraid to jump into other forms of media, either.

He often answers questions on his YouTube podcast about a variety of topics and has gone viral in the past after picking his Pokemon starter and pleading with Rockstar to put him in GTA 6.

Now he’s dipping his toes into comics after being asked to draft heroes for one of Marvel’s premier superhero teams, but fans have quickly pointed out he missed a big one.

Fans roast Stephen A. Smith for omitting Jean Grey from his X-Men draft

On The Stephen A. Smith Show, Smith responded to a tweet from ESPN’s Mina Kimes asking about his top three X-Men draft picks.

“First off, Wolverine,” Smith responds. “Let’s get that out of the way. We’re definitely going Wolverine. I’m doing to do that.”

“I’m going to tell you Beast,” Smith continues. “I can do that. And how can I go against Storm? I mean Halle Berry, what do you want me to say? I’m not going against Halle Berry, okay.”

Stephen’s picks are a pretty solid base X-Men team, but the comments weren’t 100% on board. In fact, a few users called him out for omitting one incredibly powerful character: Jean Grey.

Many users were quick to accept it, calling his top three picks solid enough. But others pointed out Jean is a powerhouse, both as a telepath and as The Phoenix.

Jean, who has been a consistent team member since the very first issue, has also had the most wildly fluctuating powers over the years. Those powers were at their peak in The Dark Phoenix Saga, a story in which a cosmic entity turned Jean into a villain strong enough to destroy planets.

Fans who want to see Jean at her full power can find her in the currently ongoing Fall of the House of X event, wherein the Krakoa Era of the X-Men is coming to an abrupt and violent end.

Jean will also appear in the upcoming X-Men ’97. There’s no news on a live-action Jean Grey joining the rest of the X-Men in the MCU just yet, but it’s bound to happen sooner rather than later.

About The Author

Christopher Baggett started writing about comics on the Internet when he was 14 years old. Since then, he's written professionally for a host of sites, including ComicsBeat, Comic Book Resources, and The HomeWorld. He's most knowledgable about the legacy heroes of the '80s and '90s that he grew up with and believes Wally West is the best Flash - and he'll fight anyone over it. For tips, news, press and more, contact Christopher at christopher.baggett@dexerto.com